Crosby would like to see NHL team in Quebec City

Eric Lindros might not have been a fan of Quebec City – refusing to play for the Nordiques when they selected him with the No. 1 pick at the 1991 NHL entry draft – but Sidney Crosby is a big fan of the provincial capital.

Crosby recently told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Quebec City would be an obvious choice for NHL expansion and that he would like to see the league expand to 32 teams.

“It’s only two more teams. I don’t see it as that big an issue,” Crosby, who played junior hockey in Quebec for the Rimouski Oceanic, told the Tribune-Review. “The league’s found a way to stay competitive with 30. It can do 32.

“Quebec City is the one that sticks out for sure,” Crosby said of possible destinations for expansion teams. “I’ve played in Quebec. I know the city, and I know how much passion they have for hockey. And, obviously, with having a team there before and the rivalry with Montreal, I think it would be awesome.”

Crosby added: “I know Seattle’s come up, and that would be interesting, being close to Vancouver. Toronto’s always talked about having a second team. There are options.”

It’s ironic that Lindros ended up marrying a Quebecer. Read more about that by clicking here.

To read a previous blog post about how Lindros’s rookie contract with the Philadelphia Flyers sent NHL salaries skyrocketing, click here.

Below is an article I wrote about Lindros back in 1991 when he played a junior all-star game at the Forum:

(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Lindros shines among junior stars

PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE ON JAN. 29, 1991

STU COWAN
THE GAZETTE

Canadiens fans won’t be happy to learn that, as a youngster, Eric Lindros never dreamed of playing in the Montreal Forum.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been here,” said the 17-year-old phenom at a Forum news conference yesterday to introduce the teams for tonight’s sixth annual Molson-Chrysler All-Star Challenge between the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Hockey League.

“I never really dreamed of playing here,” said Lindros. “I always dreamed of playing in the (Philadelphia) Spectrum.”

Does this mean that the Oshawa Generals centre, who is a sure bet to be the first player taken in the National Hockey League entry draft this summer, would play for the Flyers if he was given the choice?

“I wouldn’t say that,” he answered. “I just enjoy the way they play … I really get off on the way they play their style of bump- and-grind. I’m not a totally finesse player, so I enjoy that style of play.”

Chances are Lindros will wind up in Quebec or New Jersey next season, depending on whether the Nordiques or Toronto Maple Leafs finish last (New Jersey traded for Toronto’s first-round pick in this year’s draft).

“It doesn’t concern me (who gets the No. 1 pick),” said Lindros. “Stuff like that I don’t have any control over, so you can’t keep speculating on what’s going to happen. You can only look at what’s going on in your own league and how your own team is doing.”

So far, the Generals are doing just fine. They have the best record in the OHL (32-10-5) and Lindros, with 42 goals, 41 assists and 104 penalty minutes in only 36 games, has NHL scouts drooling.

Add to those stats Lindros’s size – officially listed at 6-foot-5, 218 pounds and still growing – and you realize why he is expected to be the NHL’s next “impact” player.

Is Lindros, who is also a magician – he can make your hand disappear when he shakes it – worried he may grow too big?

“I don’t really worry too much about my weight … I’m just a skinny little kid,” he answered with a laugh.

Lindros said he doesn’t like to compare himself with any NHL player. But Rick Cornacchia, who coaches Oshawa and will be behind the OHL All-Stars bench tonight, says, “he’s not a (Mario) Lemieux and he’s not a (Wayne) Gretzky. He’s more of a (Mark) Messier.

“He can score, he can play at both ends of the rink, he can be tough and he can fight.”

Cornacchia said Lindros’s linemates tonight will be right-winger Rob Pearson, his regular sidekick with Oshawa, and Brad May of Niagara Falls.

Lindros, who led Team Canada to the gold medal at the world junior championships with six goals and 11 assists in seven games, will be playing against some of his former teammates tonight.

Defenceman Patrice Brisebois, goaltender Felix Potvin and forwards Pierre Sevigny and Martin Lapointe were all part of Team Canada and will play for the QMJHL.

“It’s good any time you get to see those guys,” said Lindros. “I saw Patrice today and congratulated him on playing with the big guys (the Canadiens on Sunday).

“But hockey’s a game that you put the friendships aside on the ice and true friends know that you can hit them around a couple of times and they’re still your friends.”

Brisebois practised with the Canadiens yesterday morning, but will play for the QMJHL tonight.

“Eric was happy for me that I played against Boston and asked me if I was still going to play (tonight),” Brisebois said. “I said yes and I asked him if he was going to hit me. He said, `Oh yeah, sure.’ ”

Brisebois still doesn’t know if he will be needed by the Canadiens tomorrow night against Winnipeg.

There are three other Canadiens draft choices playing for the QMJHL. They are centre Steve Larouche, third round 1989; left winger Sevigny, third round ’89; and right wing Robert Guillet, third round ’90. Brisebois was a second-round selection in 1989.

Besides Lindros, the OHL team features seven players who have been selected in the first round of the past two NHL drafts.

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